This paper analyzes whether from the end of 2005 to the first half of 2012 bank localism influenced the dynamics and the quality of loans to Italian firms. To this aim, this paper proposes a new definition for local banks that, respect to the traditional classifications employed in literature,...

The paper presents a simple theory of intraday behavior in the interbank market.

Financial exclusion concerns 2.5 billion individuals and more than 450 million enterprises. The G20 countries are committed to the reduction of this phenomenon. The Bank of Italy has a fundamental role in the field of financial inclusion, both on a national and an international scale through...

In this paper we examine the main aspects of Italian factoring market and its evolution during last two decades. Moreover, we analyze the characteristics of firms accessing this kind of financing. In Italy factoring market size is the third in the world in absolute terms (amount of turnover),...

In the past decade fixed-term contracts have been widely used to ease the regulatory burden in several European labour markets. Because there is some concern that they might be a dead-end for many worker, policy makers have intervened to increase transitions from fixed-term to open-end...

This paper examines the current tax policy on venture capital (VC) in Italy, and compares it with the tax incentives adopted by France, Germany, Spain and the UK. The authors analyze ongoing European initiatives to remove tax obstacles to VC in Europe. Focusing on the taxation of VC funds, they...

This study analyses Italy�s system for supporting internationalization, i.e. the set of public institutions and policies for promoting Italian businesses and products abroad. These policies are designed to overcome the barriers to operation in foreign markets, which may be distant in terms...

In this paper company-level panel data are used to explore the role of tax changes on corporate financial policy. A panel model for the years 1993-98 is estimated confirming the explanatory power of the tax variable. The estimation also shows that firms reduced leverage in the last three years...

A long-standing economic tradition maintains that labour supply reacts to market tightness; its sensitivity to job quality has received less attention. If firms hire workers with both temporary and open-end contracts, does participation increase when more permanent jobs are available? We...

This paper examines how business investment responds to investment tax credit, as enacted by Italy�s Law 388/2000. To assess whether the programme made investments possible that otherwise would not have been made, it exploits some features of the tax credit scheme, such as the fact that...